Is this 'normal behaviour'?

[exsanguinate]

Sorry for my repeated threads about my poor Powerbook.

I have a Powerbook G4 15" (1.67) and recently got the screen replaced, which is great. However I also reported the following and was told it was 'normal behaviour' when I called them to find out why nothing was done.

- Sensor for graphics card in Powerbook G4 read 100 degrees C constantly, and now reads 'disconnected'.

- Fan comes on immediately on startup, although not extremely loud, it is clearly audible in a quiet room.

I was also advised that there 'is no temperature sensor' in the Powerbook's graphics card (9700 Mobility). I used Temperature Monitor to check the readouts.

Can anyone confirm or disprove the above? Should I accept it and not call them back?

I am concerned that although it does majorly impact my use of the machine, it would be nice to have it near silent some of the time, and it is rather worrying if it is a hardware issue!

 

[yippy]

The fan turning on at startup is normal, in fact, I would worry more if it didn't. The fans are set to run whenever the motherboard is unsure of what the temperatures are or are supposed to be. So before the software controller gets booted up the fans should run.

100 C is also a very normal temperature for a graphics card.

I don't know about the disconnected thing though.

 

[exsanguinate]

(snip)

100 C is also a very normal temperature for a graphics card.

I don't know about the disconnected thing though.

100 F would be a normal temperature, 100 C is crazy hot. The Applecare guy acknowledged that the readout was wrong, but said this was because no sensor exists there. I need to know if this is correct if anyone has a) a Powerbook handy and b) a temperature monitoring program capable of showing the graphics card temp.

I've also read on here that fans are not always on, on Apple laptops. It renders the built in microphone almost unusable (I mentioned this to Applecare too).

 

[yippy]

Sorry you are correct, 100C is way hot.

I just fired up two different temperature monitoring softwares and neither of them found a sensor for the graphics card. I have a 15" Al but the previous generation to yours.

 

[exsanguinate]

Anyone else?

It would be really helpful if someone who owns a 1.67 albook could tell me whether the fan should be audible at all times. It is rather annoying as I can hear it clearly now and I only just turned the machine on. But I'll live with it if there really is nothing unusual about it.

Oh, and the fan is always on even under battery power and high energy savings where the processor is supposed to be slowed.

 

[thomasp]

I've got a 1.5GHz 15" PowerBook (August '05 model), and nothing for the graphics card (64Mb card) shows up in Temperature Monitor - it doesn't even register it as a sensor.

As for fans, there's always a very quiet fan on, all the time, from startup - even if the insides are at 20C after booting up in a cold room. When the processor/controller bottomside sensor hits 59.8C, then a louder fan comes on, and this will go off at about 56C.